The present invention is directed to a vehicle incorporating a container system for pressurized fluids that is lightweight and flexible. The container system may be employed to store medicinal gas, e.g., oxygen, in an emergency medical vehicle, and/or the container can be employed to hold fuel sources stored under pressure.
Vehicles carrying containers for storing gases under pressure have widespread applications. For example, emergency medical vehicles (e.g. ambulances and emergency medical service vehicles) typically carry containers of medicinal gas (e.g. oxygen) under pressure. The gas carried on board the vehicle is used for administering the gas to a patient and/or for transfilling smaller, portable ambulatory containers to be used out of the immediate proximity of the vehicle.
Still other vehicles having internal combustion engines carry containers of pressurized, combustible gas (e.g. hydrogen, propane, natural gas) as a fuel source for the engine. Such gas burning engines can be found in, for example, inner city buses and indoor utility vehicles, for example, fork lifts, in which the combustion exhausts of a conventional gasoline engine are undesirable, unhealthy, or unsafe.
Onboard supplies of pressurized gas for vehicles have conventionally been provided by pressure vessels in the form of metal canisters. Such canisters are heavy and bulky, thus adding significant weight to the vehicle and taking up a substantial amount of space. Furthermore, such metal canisters, especially when filled with a gas under pressure, can be inherently unsafe. For example, the canisters can become dislodged during a collision in which case the canister itself, which may weigh 300-500 lbs., can become a flying projectile, or the canister can rupture or become punctured which can cause an explosion resulting in fragmentation of the canister.
Container systems made from lightweight synthetic materials have been proposed. Scholley, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,932,403; 5,036,845; and 5,127,399, describes a flexible and portable container for compressed gases which comprises a series of elongated, substantially cylindrical chambers arranged in a parallel configuration and interconnected by narrow, bent conduits and attached to the back of a vest that can be worn by a person. The container includes a liner, which may be formed of a synthetic material such as nylon, polyethylene, polypropylene, polyurethane, tetrafluoroethylene, or polyester. The liner is covered with a high-strength reinforcing fiber, such as a high-strength braid or winding of a reinforcing material such as KEVLAR(copyright) aramid fiber, and a protective coating of a material, such as polyurethane, covers the reinforcing fiber.
The design described in the Scholley patents suffers a number of shortcomings which makes it impractical for use as a container for fluids stored at the pressure levels typically seen in portable fluid delivery systems such as SCUBA gear, firefighter""s oxygen systems, emergency oxygen systems, and medicinal oxygen systems. The elongated, generally cylindrical shape of the separate storage chambers does not provide an effective structure for containing highly-pressurized fluids. Also, the relatively large volume of the storage sections creates an unsafe system subject to possible violent rupture due to the kinetic energy of the relatively large volume of pressurized fluid stored in each chamber.
Accordingly, there is a need for improved container systems made of light weight polymeric material and which are robust and less susceptible to violent rupture and can be easily incorporated onto a vehicle without adding significant weight or bulk.
In accordance with aspects of the present invention, a transport vehicle comprises a vehicle body supported on wheels and defining a vehicle interior compartment and a gas storage pack carried on the vehicle body for providing a portable supply of a gas stored in the gas storage pack. The gas storage pack includes a pressure vessel which comprises a plurality of hollow chambers, each having a substantially spherical or ellipsoidal shape, a plurality of relatively narrow conduit sections, each positioned between adjacent hollow chambers to interconnect the hollow chambers, and a reinforcing filament wrapped around the hollow chambers and conduit sections. The gas storage pack further includes a gas transfer control system attached to the pressure vessel and constructed and arranged to control flow of gas into and out of the pressure vessel.
In accordance with other aspects of the present invention, a motorized vehicle comprises a vehicle frame, a motor carried on the frame for driving the vehicle, and a gas storage pack carried on the frame for providing a portable supply of gas under pressure as a fuel source for the motor. The gas storage pack includes a pressure vessel which comprises a plurality of hollow chambers, each having a substantially spherical or ellipsoidal shape, a plurality of relatively narrow conduit sections, each positioned between adjacent hollow chambers to interconnect the hollow chambers, and a reinforcing filament wrapped around the hollow chambers and conduit sections. The gas storage pack further includes a gas transfer control system attached to the pressure vessel and constructed and arranged to control flow of gas into and out of the pressure vessel.
Other objects, features, and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent upon consideration of the following description and the appended claims with reference to the accompanying drawings, all of which form a part of the specification, and wherein like reference numerals designate corresponding parts in the various figures.